Oh No

Chris Christie = Hey right wingers, it's okay to be OBESE, unhealthy, and rude as long as you're confident, you love yourself, hate gays, and want to cut taxes on the rich!

Refuge of the Dim

It is by no means the first such paper. There is plenty of research showing that low general intelligence in childhood predicts greater prejudice towards people of different ethnicity or sexuality in adulthood. Open-mindedness, flexibility, trust in other people: all these require certain cognitive abilities. Understanding and accepting others – particularly "different" others – requires an enhanced capacity for abstract thinking.

But, drawing on a sample size of several thousand, correcting for both education and socioeconomic status, the new study looks embarrassingly robust. Importantly, it shows that prejudice tends not to arise directly from low intelligence but from the conservative ideologies to which people of low intelligence are drawn. Conservative ideology is the "critical pathway" from low intelligence to racism. Those with low cognitive abilities are attracted to "rightwing ideologies that promote coherence and order" and "emphasise the maintenance of the status quo". Even for someone not yet renowned for liberal reticence, this feels hard to write.

-George Monbiot

"They take advantage of us, they laugh at us."

Something Marshall Art Would Say

Rules?

Newt Gingrich's campaign has confirmed that it will make a formal complaint to the national Republican party about Florida's intention not to award delegates to the national congress proportionately. According to the Republican party rules, any state that holds its primary before April 1 is forbidden from running a "winner takes all" vote.

Florida was already fined half of its 99 delegates for holding its vote early, in defiance of national party rules. But Florida has not yet "officially" awarded its delegates – leading to speculation that it might not do so until April.

Republicans cant even keep their own rules straight.

Newt-riffic!

Them internets are amazing..

Stephen Colbert

"Last night folks, Republicans held their eighteenth debate. The question on everyone's mind: Who cares?"

Death and Taxes

I suspect those with far more expertise in this area will subject these materials to considerable scrutiny, but at first blush, the disclosure appears to raise at least as many questions as it answers.

Why did Romney set up $100 million trust funds for his sons without paying any gift taxes? Were his accounts in the Caymans and in Switzerland created to avoid paying taxes? Was the closing of the Swiss account related to this IRS investigation? And given all of the questions surrounding Romney's Bain-era work, why does the Republican candidate continue to insist he won't disclose returns from previous years?

Is all this really so difficult for Mitt?